According to Sertaç Aksan’s news at TRT Haber, defence sources told that ANKA-3, designed as a deep attack aircraft, will also serve as a tanker aircraft.
ANKA-3 has a tailless airframe which provides a wide body structure. The US, however uses MQ-25 Stingray tanker aircraft. The USA developed the XQ-58A Valkyrie for deep attack missions.
Tanker aircraft are strategic vehicles that are considered “power multipliers”. Aircraft taking off with a war load consumes a significant portion of its fuel while gaining altitude. As a result, its operational range and airtime are dramatically reduced. Tanker aircraft refuel the air platform in the air to increase operation time or range.
The Turkish Air Force has KC-135R tanker planes for such missions. The tanker planes have passenger plane fuselage as they are expected to serve behind the front line.
The US is working on refuelling UAVs and fighter aircraft with MQ-25. Anka-3 might have similar roles. In this case, it can be expected that ANKA-3 will be equipped with a hose-drogue system because it is used in Turkish Air Force aircraft.
